


The Texts We Sent

by doodles357



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 06:05:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18565447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doodles357/pseuds/doodles357
Summary: When his friend got a new phone, TJ kept texting him like usual, which included some pretty personal stuff. Only he put the wrong phone number in by accident, and it turns out he's been telling a complete stranger his deepest secrets.





	The Texts We Sent

**Author's Note:**

> Based on yet another AU prompt. Caution warning for some emotional abuse and homophobia. Nothing too heavy or explicit, but TJ's family is not great.

Sometimes TJ wondered why he was friends with the people he was friends with. He watched as his friend Reed howled with anger because he managed to drop his phone in the lake as they sped along in Reed’s dad’s boat. By the time Reed got his dad’s attention, they had left that spot far behind, and his phone was likely at the bottom of the lake. Reed thought he could take some kind of ridiculous selfie and had ended up losing grip of his phone and almost fallen into the lake himself.

When his dad heard what had happened, he sighed, shook his head, and told Reed he was an idiot. Then he followed that up by saying they would get him a new phone when they got home. TJ couldn’t help but inwardly marvel at that. If he had been dumb enough to drop his phone in a lake, his dad would have called him a lot worse than dumb, and he definitely wouldn’t have gotten a new phone. Although, to be fair, his dad would have never taken him and his friends out to do something fun in the first place.

So, when they got back home that night, he and Lester chilled in the basement playing video games while Reed and his dad went to the store to replace his phone. When he got back, Reed spent a good amount of time bragging about the cool new features that his phone had, and how it was so much better than his old one. He had apparently needed to get a new number, and he rattled it off quickly for TJ and Lester to add to their contact info for him.

They put on a movie not long after that, although Reed spent the entire time messing around with his new phone which was a little distracting. TJ was almost glad when they decided to go to bed, because he didn’t want to hear about all the cool things that Reed’s new phone could do. His phone was now several years old, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to afford a new one unless he specifically saved up for one. His home life was so drastically different from Reed’s that sometimes it surprised him that they had anything in common.

When he headed home the next morning, he was in less of a grumpy mood than he had been the night before. Even though Reed’s bragging had been annoying, he couldn’t be mad at his friend for the fact that his parents spoiled him. It also wasn’t Reed’s fault that TJ’s family had issues. In fact, Reed was one of the few people who knew how bad things could get, and TJ could always crash at his friend’s house, no questions asked.

It was quiet in his house when he finally got there. His mom was likely out shopping or meeting up with friends, and his dad was still passed out asleep in bed. He grabbed a snack from the kitchen and quietly made his way into his room. Sleeping was about the only way he could stand his dad, and he didn’t want to wake him because he was noisy.

TJ flopped down onto his bed and pulled out his own phone. He spent some time messing around on some apps in order to pass the time. He was bored, but he knew that if he turned on the TV or tried shooting hoops outside, he risked waking his dad up, and he didn’t want to deal with it. The morning turned slowly into afternoon, and around lunchtime, he heard the front door open and his mother came in, thumping something down on the counter. Groceries, he presumed, and he decided that he should probably go down and help her out.

Before he could move from his spot on his bed though, he heard the unmistakable sounds of his father ambling towards the kitchen. He paused, deciding to wait and see what happened first. He could hear his parents talking, but it was too quiet for him to hear through his bedroom door. Then the conversation started getting louder, turning into a full-blown argument. He had heard it before; his mother upset because his father wasn’t helping her around the house, and his dad arguing back that he worked more than her, so he was more tired and deserved a break. TJ dug his headphones out of his desk drawer and jammed them into his ears, turning the music up to a volume that probably wasn’t healthy for his ears. He couldn’t hear them arguing anymore though, so he kept it up.

His parents’ bedroom door slammed shut so hard that he both heard and felt it. He flinched, his heart skipping a beat at the sharp noise. His dad would likely sulk in the room for another couple of hours while his mother put away the groceries, made the meals, and probably do a million other things around the house. He tried to help her out when he could, but between school, work, and basketball, he didn’t have a ton of time to do so. And it didn’t matter what he did; the fighting would continue, and nothing would ever be resolved.

He pulled up his message app on his phone and started a conversation with Reed’s new number.

**_TJ_ ** _: they’re fighting again. god, i can’t wait until i’m old enough to move out._

Reed didn’t respond, which didn’t surprise TJ. He was notoriously bad at texting back, and when he did, it was usually pretty short. TJ would be lucky if he got a _that sucks_ back. But it didn’t bother him. Even if Reed didn’t respond, it felt nice to vent to someone. Reed never judged him and occasionally would actually try and give him advice.

Pulling out one of his earbuds, he listened cautiously. It seemed quiet now, so he decided to go give his mom a hand putting the groceries away. It would give him something to do, and he could grab some lunch right away. Tossing his phone onto the bed, he quietly made his way into the kitchen.

\------------

The next day was Monday, so at least he got to escape to school. Not only did he get to see his friends, but his parents weren’t there. It was peace and quiet in TJ’s mind – at least as peaceful and quiet as a high school could be. He generally enjoyed school (except for math) and knew that he had to do well so that he could get into college and get out of his house. He was counting down the months at this point and was more than ready to move on to the next step of his life.

Reed had never responded to his text, so he didn’t bring it up when he met up with his friends before classes started. They joked around for a bit before the bell rang. TJ headed to his English class which he had first hour. It was one of his favorite classes, aside from history. His teacher was pretty cool, and the class he was in had some of the smarter kids in it, which meant they had actual decent conversations about the books they were reading.

However, despite the fact that TJ enjoyed the class and did well in it, he had found himself having trouble concentrating during English as of late. The reason for that was the fact that Cyrus Goodman sat one row over and one seat up from him.

At the beginning of the year, they had actually sat next to each other. Cyrus was pretty quiet in the class, but one day TJ overheard him make a snarky comment under his breath about something that happened in the story they were currently reading. He had laughed in response, and Cyrus looked up at him in surprise, clearly not having expected someone to have heard him. He grinned back at TJ though, when he realized that TJ was just laughing at his joke. This happened a few more times, and TJ often found himself trying to contain laughter in the middle of class. He didn’t want to seem like he was being disrespectful, but Cyrus had a habit of pinpointing things about the stories or characters and making sarcastic comments about them.

Sadly, the teacher ended up switching seats at semester, and TJ wasn’t next to Cyrus anymore. However, the new seating arrangement meant he spent a good deal of class time staring at the back of Cyrus’ head. The other boy kept drawing his attention, and TJ couldn’t figure out why. Maybe it was the seemingly endless button-down shirts that he wore, each with some kind of funny pattern on them. (TJ may or may not have started a list in the back of his notebook. The hot dog one was his favorite). Maybe it was the habit that Cyrus had of twirling his pen through his fingers that was distracting. Whatever it was, TJ found that his gaze was often on Cyrus, wishing he would turn around and make eye contact. Not that TJ knew what he would do if that happened. They had never talked outside of class. Or even inside class for that matter, aside from the small handful of comments that Cyrus had made.

It was a good thing that TJ was doing well in the class, because he got distracted by Cyrus all the time, which meant he missed out on a lot of what the teacher was saying. He often had to shake himself mentally to get his attention back on the front of the classroom, and not on how Cyrus’ hair curled slightly near his ear, or the freckles on the back of his neck.

He had basketball practice after school, which meant he didn’t get home until close to dinnertime. His mother was making something when he came in, and he could hear the blare of the television from the living room, which meant his dad was in there. He made his way to his room, enjoying the peace and quiet while it lasted. When his mom called him in for dinner, he drudged back into the kitchen slowly. His dad was already at the table, drumming his fingers impatiently on the wooden surface.

Dinner was quiet, only interspersed with clinking of silverware on the plates. TJ was hoping that it would stay that way, and he could escape to his room soon. However, it seemed that fate wasn’t on his side that evening.

“I got an email from your math teacher today,” his mother said, breaking the silence. TJ inwardly cringed; he knew his last test had not gone well, but he was hoping that he would be able to retake it before she saw the grade online. Apparently, that was out of the question.

“She’s worried about you falling behind with only a few months of school left,” his mother said. “Did you study?”

“Yes, I studied,” TJ protested. “I’m just having trouble with the new material. I’m going in to work with a tutor this week.”

“If you studied, you wouldn’t have failed,” his dad interjected. TJ bit back several responses that he wanted to sling at his dad. He wanted to avoid a fight, so he didn’t blurt them out. “It’s not that difficult. You just need to put in more effort.”

“I did put in an effort,” TJ said, barely keeping his tone under control. “I have a learning disability.”

“Don’t make excuses,” his dad snapped. “I don’t care what fancy words they throw at you. You need to work harder, not try and hide behind some fake excuse.”

“It’s not fake,” TJ protested. “And I’m working as hard as I can. I’m going to retake it, so I can get a better grade.”

His dad snorted in disbelief and shook his head. The sight enraged TJ, and his hands were shaking with the effort of not slamming them down on the table in anger. He had struggled with math his whole life, and it wasn’t until he was in high school that his freshman math teacher pulled him aside and talked to him about getting tested for dyscalculia. Finding out that there was actually something that made math so difficult for him was incredibly relieving, as he spent years wondering what was wrong with him, especially when he didn’t have trouble with any other subjects.

His parents, however, had not been quite as supportive. His mother encouraged him to get a tutor, but never took any more interest than that. His dad had made several comments about TJ not trying hard enough and the school inventing problems that didn’t actually exist. Considering the fact that his low grades in math had been a source of contention in the family for years, TJ thought they’d be happy to know that he had found out what the problem was and that there were ways to work through it. It turned out that he had to work through his dyscalculia problems alone. And when situations like this occurred, they were less than supportive.

TJ wolfed down the rest of his meal in stony silence and retreated to his room as soon as he could. He pulled out his phone and opened his messages.

**_TJ_ ** _: my dad went off on me about my math grades again and keeps saying i’m not trying even though i’m redoing that stupid test_

**_TJ_ ** _: if he actually paid attention to anything besides himself he’d see how hard i’ve been studying_

**_TJ_ ** _: can’t wait till next year when i don’t have to take any math classes_

It showed that Reed had read his last message, but still hadn’t responded. He sometimes laughed at TJ for complaining about the dyscalculia, saying that at least he had an excuse for doing bad. Considering Reed was the person who actually never studied and didn’t care that his grades were terrible, TJ didn’t take offence to it. He was genuinely surprised that Reed hadn’t been held back yet, but he always managed to pull together passing grades at the last minute. At least Reed believed that it was a real thing.

He spent the rest of the evening working on homework, although he got frustrated when he got to his math homework, his dad’s words from earlier ringing in his ears. Slamming his book shut in anger, he shoved it into his backpack and flopped down onto his bed. He was meeting with his tutor the next day, so he would just go over the math with her then. At least there would be someone who wanted to help him.

\---------

The rest of the week passed in a blur. TJ went to classes, practice, and worked a couple of days. He did manage to get through his math with his tutor, and he retook his test on Thursday of that week. This time around, he felt a lot more confident with the material, and he was hoping for at least a C. On the days that he worked, he at least got a dinner break, so he was able to eat there instead of at home, which meant less time with his dad. On Friday, he got to school with somewhat mixed feelings. While he technically enjoyed the weekends because he got a break from school, he didn’t like having to spend that much time at home. And since he wasn’t scheduled to work, he didn’t have anywhere else to be.

He met up with his friends beforehand, and they hung out in front of Reed’s locker, laughing and joking around.

“Yeah, my dad’s taking me to a monster truck rally on Saturday,” Reed said. “Cars smashing each other and everything. It’s going to be dope!”

TJ smiled vaguely, not really responding. It wasn’t something that really interested him, but it beat what he had planned, which was absolutely nothing. His mind was also on his math test, which he would be getting back later in the day. His early confidence had somewhat disappeared, and he was now worried that he hadn’t improved at all.

“Earth to TJ,” Reed said, interrupting his thoughts as he waved a hand in front of his face. TJ batted his hand away.

“Shut up,” he said half-heartedly, not really bothered.

“Where’s your head, man?” Reed asked him.

“Gonna see if I failed math again,” TJ said, sighing.

“That sucks,” Reed said. “Didn’t you get that test back yet?”

“I had to redo it,” TJ said, frowning. “I told you that.”

Reed just shrugged, turning to Lester to ask him about some video game. TJ rolled his eyes. He knew Reed could be flaky, but recently it was like he had taken it to a whole new level. He hadn’t texted TJ back all week, and while TJ knew it was mostly just him ranting, Reed usually said something in return. Before he could think any more about it, the bell rang, and they headed off to their classes.

In English class, TJ found himself once again staring at the back of Cyrus Goodman’s head. His hair looked damp and messy, like he had just gotten out of the shower. It was surprising, because Cyrus always seemed so put together. Hair perfectly combed, a neat, stylish outfit. Most high school guys didn’t make any sort of effort with their appearance, but Cyrus was different. Maybe he had slept in late that morning, TJ mused.

He knew he should be paying attention to the lesson, but he was having a particularly hard time doing so that morning. The fact that it was a Friday at the end of a long week probably had something to do with it. His impending math test grade also kept crossing his mind, bringing with it a jolt of anxiety. And there was Cyrus, right in his line of vision, looking cute with his messy hair and polka dot shirt –

TJ’s train of thought came to a screeching halt as his brain caught up with it. _Cute_? He didn’t mean cute, he meant –

His gaze settled on Cyrus again, against his will, just in time to see Cyrus tuck his pen behind his ear while he rearranged his notes.

He meant cute.

If TJ was being honest with himself, he had known this for a while. He had never been attracted to any girls, despite pretending to if his friends asked. There had been more than one guy that he found attractive, although he never dared to say it out loud. He had pushed all of that away though and refused to think about it. He knew what the repercussions would be, and it wasn’t worth it in his opinion. And there had never been anyone who had sparked his interest long enough.

But he thought Cyrus was cute. And funny. And smart. And even though they had never had a full conversation, he spent more time thinking about the other boy than normal, considering how little interaction they had.

TJ sat through the rest of class in a daze, turning the thought over and over in his head. Cyrus was cute. He liked Cyrus. He liked a _boy_. It was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating to admit to himself. His gaze continually drifted over to Cyrus, and he had to keep looking back at the front of the classroom. He took in absolutely none of the lesson that day and scribbled down the assignment for the weekend without even registering what he was writing down. When the bell rang, he hung back slightly, waiting for people to get in between him and Cyrus.

The rest of the day passed in a similar blur. During lunch, he was quieter than usual, with Reed making up the difference. Part of him wanted to blurt it out to his friends, but he couldn’t. Not yet. Not while he was still making sense of it himself. He knew his friends well enough that he wasn’t really worried about their reaction. He was sure Reed would make some dumb jokes, but they wouldn’t turn on him or freak out. But the crowded cafeteria definitely wasn’t the place for that conversation.

It was only when he got to his math class that his mind snapped off of Cyrus. In everything that had happened, he had actually forgotten about his math grade. His teacher slid his test onto his desk facedown with an unreadable expression on her face. With great trepidation, he turned it over. To his immense relief, he saw that he had managed a C+, which was even better than he had hoped for. He left school that day feeling much better than he had when he had gotten there.

The house was empty when he got home, and there was a note from his mother on the table, informing him that she and his father had gone out with some friends and that he was on his own for supper. Feeling even more cheery than before, TJ immediately claimed the couch in the living room and turned on the TV. When his parents went out, it usually meant late dinner, lots of drinks, and not getting back in until late. There was a frozen pizza with his name on it for supper later, and a whole evening of freedom.

After watching TV for a while, he got the pizza going and grabbed himself a soda. He paced the kitchen as he waited for his pizza to cook. The TV had been a good distraction, but now his mind was back on his revelation from that morning. What he wanted, more than anything, was for someone to talk it out with. After deliberating for a bit, he grabbed his phone. While Reed could be a bit of a dumbass sometimes, he was TJ’s friend, and would be willing to listen.

**_TJ_ ** _: hey man i need to tell you something_

**_TJ_ ** _: don’t be an ass about it_

**_TJ_ ** _: i haven’t told anyone else yet cause i kinda just figured it out_

**_TJ_ ** _: i think i’m gay_

TJ stared at the message after he sent it. He had done so quickly, knowing he would talk himself out of it otherwise. It was there, in text, out in the world. Reed had seen it; the little message saying ‘read’ had popped up under it. But he wasn’t texting back. He hadn’t responded to anything TJ had sent all week, although he clearly was getting them. This was different though. This was something new, and there was no way that Reed would just ignore this.

**_TJ_ ** _: i can’t tell anyone else right now_

**_TJ_ ** _: my dad would literally kill me_

**_TJ_ ** _: hello?_

TJ frowned in frustration at his phone. What was Reed’s problem? Then he started as his phone screen darkened and it started buzzing. To his great surprise, Reed was calling him. Reed never called, especially when he could text. He was the type of person who would be lying in a ditch, dying, and still try and text the police instead of calling.

“Hello?” TJ answered the phone, a question in his voice. He was pretty sure he had never actually spoken to Reed on the phone before. Was his friend actually that surprised by his confession?

“Hello?” came the reply. It was a guy’s voice, but it definitely wasn’t Reed’s. “I’m sorry, I think you have a wrong number.”

TJ felt all the air leave his body. It wasn’t Reed that he had been texting this entire time. It was a complete stranger. He had come out to a stranger over text. Not to mention, he had also unloaded a whole lot of personal information to said stranger.

“I get a lot of wrong number calls and texts so I usually ignore them,” the voice continued, and TJ had to focus his attention in order to listen. “I thought you would figure it out when I didn’t respond.”

“I – what?” TJ stammered out, too in shock to form coherent sentences.

“I should have said something, I’m sorry,” the voice said. “But I got tired of dealing with people who were convinced they had the right number. Once I got into a fifteen-minute argument with an older lady who was convinced I was her adult son named Jerry. She was convinced I had stolen his number somehow.”

To his surprise, TJ found himself laughing slightly. He felt his body relaxing a little bit. The voice on the other end was a guy’s, and if he had to guess, it was probably a teenager. It sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t place it.

“I’m sorry,” TJ finally managed to say. “My friend is really bad at texting back, so I assumed he was just being an idiot.”

“No, it’s my fault,” the guy said. “I should have said something right away.”

“So, um,” TJ said, feeling the dread starting to creep back in as he realized what message he had just sent. “Any chance you could ignore everything I’ve sent you.”

“I know I’m being kind of weird, calling like this,” the guy said, sounding apologetic. “It’s just…your last message. You sounded like you needed someone to talk to. And I…I know what it feels like. To go through what you’re going through right now.”

TJ stood there in silence, taking it in. What were the chances of this happening? And how did he respond?

“Oh,” he managed to say. “Okay. Um. I’m okay. Really. I just…needed to say it to someone. It’s not a big deal, really.” He could hear how fake his own voice sounded when he said that, and he cringed slightly.

“It is though,” the guy insisted. “I know how scary it can be. And you sounded worried, so I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

It was probably the kindest thing anyone had said to TJ, and to his surprise, he found his eyes welling up. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had just checked in on him, to make sure he was okay. And it was a complete stranger who was doing it now. He wiped hastily at his eyes, grateful that this conversation was taking place over the phone and cleared his throat before talking.

“Well, I’m okay,” he said, somewhat gruffly. “Just…figuring things out. Like, figuring them out today. In the middle of class and all.”

The guy laughed, and TJ felt his heart skip a beat. Why was he getting this emotional? He had no idea who this person was.

“Been there,” the guy said cheerfully. “It’s fun, huh?”

TJ just sighed deeply, making the guy laugh again. He was starting to feel a lot more relaxed though, and not as panicky.

“Look, thank you,” he said. “I’m sorry for burdening you with my problems, but I appreciate the call. Really. You could have just told me to try a different number.”

“It’s fine,” the guy said. “I just can’t help myself when I see someone who needs help. I have therapist parents, so it’s kind of a habit I’ve picked up.”

TJ chuckled again. “Well, you’re pretty good at it.”

“Thanks,” the guy said. “I’m going to let you go now. Just…if you ever need someone to talk to about this kind of stuff, you can always text me. Or you can delete my number. Doesn’t matter to me.”

“Thank you,” TJ said earnestly. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

He hung up, staring at his phone as it reverted back to the text messages. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. And how had it happened? He cast his mind back and realized that when Reed gave him the new number, he must have put it in his phone wrong _. Stupid dyscalculia_ , he thought, but he wasn’t that upset anymore. The guy had seemed really nice and talking to him had been relieving as well. TJ couldn’t help but wonder who it was. His voice had sound slightly familiar to the point where it was nagging at TJ the entire conversation, but he couldn’t place it.

The timer went off, signaling that his pizza was done. After getting his meal together, he plopped back down in front of the TV. His brain was going a million miles a minute, so he figured he needed another good distraction.

\----

The rest of the weekend passed in a blur. TJ did his homework, shot some hoops, and played video games. He opened his messaging app more times than he could count, just staring at the one-sided conversation that he had with the mystery guy. More than once, he was tempted to text him and strike up a conversation, but he didn’t know what to say. He had already bared his deepest secrets to this guy; saying ‘hey’ seemed almost ridiculous. More than anything, he wanted to know who it was. Who he had trusted with something so monumentally huge. But he had used up all his courage that weekend, it seemed.

On Monday, he tracked down Reed in the morning in order to sort out the phone number situation.

“I gave you my number,” Reed said in confusion when TJ asked him for it.

“I put it in wrong, and I’ve been texting the wrong number all week,” TJ said. Reed just laughed at that.

“Nice,” he snorted. “Did you tell them anything important?”

TJ paused long enough for his friends to notice.

“Did you?” Reed asked, eyebrows raised.

“Yeah,” TJ admitted. The two stared at him, clearly waiting for him to share. _What the hell_ , he figured. He had been willing to tell Reed anyways.

“I’m gay,” he said quietly. Lester just nodded, while Reed let out another snort.

“Well, duh,” he said.

“What do you mean?!” TJ exclaimed, not having expected that reaction.

“I mean, I kinda figured,” Reed rolled his eyes. “You literally never talk about girls. I thought this was something we all knew already.”

TJ just sighed. He felt like pointing out that just because Reed had assumed it, that didn’t mean it would always be true, but he didn’t feel like getting into an argument. The slight weight of anxiety that had settled in his stomach lifted as he realized that he had told his friends and it wasn’t a big deal.

“Who do you like?” Reed asked, interrupting his thoughts.

“What?” TJ asked, somewhat defensively.

“Well, you’ve never said anything until now, so that means there’s someone you like, huh?” Reed said, a smirk starting to cross his face. “That’s why it was important for you to tell us. Who is it?”

“There’s no one,” TJ protested, well aware of the fact that his face was starting to heat up. His friends clearly noticed as well, since they both started laughing. He punched Reed in the shoulder as the bell rang, and he gratefully made his way to English class.

To his surprise, when he got to the classroom, his classmates were milling around the room. Glancing at the board, he saw that their teacher had rearranged the seating chart again. He found himself near the front of the room this time. To his disappointment, Cyrus was now several seats behind him, which meant that he was well out of TJ’s line of sight.

Once class got started, the teacher decided to have them read aloud from the book they were working with. She called on people randomly throughout the class, in order to ensure they were paying attention. TJ found it was much easier to follow along when he wasn’t staring at Cyrus, but he still missed being able to see him.

“Cyrus,” she called out, making TJ startle slightly, as though she had read his thoughts. It was just the other boy’s turn to read though.

As Cyrus started reading the next paragraph, TJ felt a shock run through his body. He recognized his voice. He had only heard it a few days ago. Cyrus was the guy he had been texting this past week. They hadn’t really talked before; the only time he had really heard Cyrus talk was the few comments the other boy had made under his breath, so he really wouldn’t have known it well enough to recognize it on the phone. That must have been why it sounded vaguely familiar.

TJ was barely able to comprehend what that meant when he realized something else. He would have to read aloud as well, and Cyrus would recognize his voice. He would know that TJ was the one who was behind the texts and the conversation. That meant that Cyrus knew…well, he knew quite a bit about TJ now. His sexuality, his family problems – TJ felt almost numb as everything crashed over him.

Taking a few deep breaths, he tried to calm himself. Cyrus had been nothing but kind and understanding in the conversation they had, and from what TJ knew about him, he wasn’t one to gossip or spread rumors. And he had told TJ something – hadn’t he? He said he was gay too, right? TJ wracked his brain, trying to remember the conversation. It had passed in a quick blur, and he had been too focused on not panicking that some stranger knew his secrets to really think that much about the comment.

Then he realized that someone else was taking a turn reading, and he needed to catch up so that he wasn’t lost when the teacher inevitably called on him. Scanning the page, he was able to locate where they were. Even though he had tried to calm down, his leg was bouncing almost uncontrollably. Soon enough, the teacher called his name. Taking a deep breath, he began to read.

He could feel Cyrus’ gaze on the back of his neck – or at least that’s what he imagined. There was no way that Cyrus wouldn’t figure it out. He felt more exposed than he had during their entire conversation. Finally, the teacher called on someone else, and the spotlight was off of him. Part of him wanted to turn around and see if Cyrus was actually looking at him, but he didn’t dare. When the bell rang, he was out the door as quickly as he could without looking back

English was the only class he had with Cyrus, and he rarely saw him in the halls, so he figured he was safe from an awkward conversation. However, he stopped at his locker before lunch to swap out his books. When he turned around, Cyrus was standing right in front of him.

The other boy had his books clasped to his chest, looking rather nervous. TJ felt his breath catch as they came face-to-face.

“Hi,” Cyrus said nervously.

“Hi,” TJ echoed. He didn’t know what else to say, or what Cyrus was going to say to him.

“It was you, wasn’t it?” Cyrus asked, still looking tense. TJ paused before nodding.

“I didn’t recognize your voice until class,” Cyrus said.  “And I just…I just wanted to say hi.”

“Oh,” TJ said, feeling a fluttering in his stomach.

“Well, you know,” Cyrus said. “I never thought I’d find out who you were. And since I figured you had probably figured out who I was too. I don’t know.”

He seemed to be getting flustered, and TJ felt bad. He probably wasn’t putting off a friendly vibe in that moment, since he was still taken aback by what had happened.

“I’m not going to say anything,” Cyrus continued. “If you were worried. It’s none of my business.”

“It’s okay,” TJ interrupted him. “I…trust you. I just didn’t expect…well, for any of this to happen.”

“That’s for sure,” Cyrus said, with a slight smile that TJ returned. He couldn’t help but reflect on how cute Cyrus was. He didn’t think he had ever really been face-to-face with him before. The other boy had big, brown eyes that were gazing at TJ with earnest concern that reactivated the butterflies.

“Do you have lunch right now?” TJ asked suddenly.

“Yeah,” Cyrus replied. “I usually go to the library, since my friends have a different lunch period from me. I get a lot of homework done though.”

“Oh,” TJ replied, feeling somewhat disappointed, although he didn’t know why. It wasn’t like he would ask Cyrus to sit with him. That would also entail him sitting with Reed and Lester and that was _definitely_ not happening any time soon.

“You could join me if you want,” Cyrus offered. “I usually go in one of the study rooms, so I don’t get yelled at for eating. And we could talk. If you want to, that is.”

He seemed nervous again, so TJ smiled widely at him.

“I’d like that,” he replied.

He knew he’d get a million questions from his friends later, but in that moment, he didn’t care. Grabbing his lunch from the top shelf of his locker, he followed Cyrus to the library. He didn’t know what they would talk about, but he couldn’t wait to find out.


End file.
